Graphical user interface for a motion video planning and editing system for a computer

ABSTRACT

A graphical user interface for a computer-assisted motion video editing system directs a user through the process of editing a video program. The graphical user interface may also enables a user to plan a video program. Alternatively selectable interfaces within a single window interface, each of which provide a group of planning, capturing, editing, and recording functions can provide such an interface for producing a video program. Other simplifications to the user interface can be provided to assist in editing, such as by maintaining a video display window for displaying the edited video program at a fixed position for all available editing operations. Additionally, video information can be captured directly into a timeline representation of a video program, rather than a bin. Using a storyboard tied to the capturing process, a user is directed through the process of collecting and capturing the video clips to be used in the video program.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §120, and isa continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/687,926, filedJul. 29, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,628,303, issuing Sep. 30, 2003, whichis hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention is related generally to systems forplanning and editing motion video information. More particularly, thepresent invention is related to computer-assisted motion video editingsystems, wherein motion video information is stored as a sequence ofdigital still images in a data file on a computer system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Computer systems with motion video editing tools have been usedto produce major motion picture films, television shows, news broadcastsand in corporate settings to edit motion video. Unlike word processingtools, however, such motion video editing tools are not yet common forhome use, primarily due to the cost of motion video editing tools,including hardware and software, and the complexity of the architectureand graphical user interface.

[0004] The high cost of motion video editing tools for computers is due,in part, to specialized hardware used to capture, digitize, compress,decompress and display motion video information on a computer screenwith sufficient detail and resolution. The complexity of the graphicaluser interface of these motion video editing tools is due, in part, tothe variety of possible operations which can be performed on motionvideo and also to a design for professionals familiar with motion videoediting, and terms and concepts of that trade, with which the averageperson is unfamiliar. For example, many systems use a representation ofa motion video composition as two tracks, A and B, between which“rolling” occurs. The concept of A/B rolling is unduly complex and hasbeen simplified in other systems by using a “timeline.” such as in theAVID/1 Media Composer from Avid Technology, Inc., of Tewksbury. Mass.Another complexity is the use of multiple windows for controlling thevarious parameters of the motion video, displaying the motion videoitself, sound track controls and other features.

[0005] Another drawback of many motion video editing tools for computersis that most people have not been taught how to communicate ideas usingmotion video or how to efficiently produce a motion video program.Schools commonly teach written and oral expression and expressionthrough still graphics but not motion video. While most motion videoediting tools for computers are suitable for creating motion videoprograms, few tools assist in the creative design, planning andproduction of motion video programs.

[0006] Accordingly, a general aim of this invention is to provide amotion video editing system for a computer with reduced cost andcomplexity. Another aim of this invention is to provide a motion videoediting system for a computer with tools for assisting creative designand planning of a motion video composition.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] The present invention provides a simplified interface whichdirects a user through the process of editing a video program. In oneaspect of the invention, the interface also enables a user to plan avideo program. Alternatively selectable interfaces, each of whichprovide a group of planning, capturing, editing, and recordingfunctions, provides an intuitive interface for producing a videoprogram. Other simplifications to the user interface can be provided toassist in editing, such as by maintaining the video display window at afixed position. Additionally, video information can be captured directlyinto a timeline representation of a video program, rather than a bin.Using a storyboard tied to the capturing process, a user is directedthrough the process of collecting and capturing the video clips to beused in the video program.

[0008] Accordingly, one aspect of the invention is a graphical userinterface for a computer motion video editing system, which has a singlewindow interface including a plurality of alternatively selectableinterfaces. A first of the plurality of selectable interfaces is aninterface for making capturing commands available to a user forreceiving motion video information to be edited. A second of theplurality of selectable interfaces is an interface for making editingcommands available to a user for editing the received motion videoinformation. A third of the plurality of selectable interfaces is aninterface for making playback commands available to a user foroutputting the edited motion video information to an external device. Inone embodiment, a fourth of the plurality of selectable interfacesincludes an interface for making storyboarding commands available to auser for preparing a plan describing a motion video program to beedited.

[0009] In another embodiment, the second of the plurality of selectableinterfaces further includes a second plurality of alternativelyselectable interfaces, wherein each selectable interface provides a setof editing functions of a particular type, and wherein each selectableinterface has a video region for previewing the motion video programbeing edited and wherein the video region in each of the selectableinterfaces is at an identical position within the single windowinterface.

[0010] Another aspect of the invention is a graphical user interface forediting computer motion video having a single window interface having aplurality of alternatively selectable interfaces. Each selectableinterface provides a set of motion video editing functions of adifferent type. Each selectable interface also has a video region forpreviewing the motion video to be edited such that the video region ineach selectable interface is at the same position within the singlewindow interface.

[0011] Another aspect of the invention is a graphical user interface fora computer for assisting editing of a motion video program, having aplanner module with inputs for receiving commands from a userdescriptive of a plan of shots of video in the video program andproviding an output representative of the plan. A capture module has afirst input for receiving the plan defined by the user, a second inputfor receiving an input from a user for controlling recording of motionvideo information, and a third input for receiving a selection of a shotin the received plan. The capture module has an output in which capturedmotion video information is associated directly with the selected shotto provide the motion video program as a sequence of the recorded clipsin an order defined by the plan.

[0012] Another aspect of the invention is computer video capture systemwhich represents a sequence of video clips in a video program. Clips ofa video program are captured directly into the represented sequence.

[0013] Another aspect of the invention is a set of a plurality ofpredefined plans stored in a computer memory. One aspect of thisinvention includes a mechanism for selecting one of the plans, forediting a selected plan, and for capturing video and for automaticallygenerating a video sequence according to the selected plan.

[0014] Another aspect of the invention is a process for capturing motionvideo information and for generating a video program of a plurality ofclips of captured motion video information. The process involvesselecting a clip of the video program, capturing video information andassociating the captured video information with the selected clip of thevideo program. In one embodiment, the step of selecting includes thestep of selecting a shot from a plan representing and associated withthe video program. In this embodiment, the step of associating includesthe step of associating the captured video information with the clip ofthe video program associated with the selected shot from the plan.

[0015] In another embodiment, the process further involves performingthe step of indicating whether a clip of the video program has capturedmotion video information associated thereto.

[0016] These and other aspects, goals, advantages and features of theinvention will be apparent from a reading of the following detaileddescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0017] In the drawing,

[0018]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example general purpose computersystem in which the present invention may be implemented;

[0019]FIG. 2 is an example memory system shown in FIG. 1;

[0020]FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating software layers in one embodimentof the present invention;

[0021]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a computer system having a displayshowing one embodiment of the graphical user interface of the presentinvention;

[0022]FIG. 5 is a graphic of a graphical user interface for providingplanning functions in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0023]FIG. 6 is a diagram of a data structure for representing shots inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

[0024]FIG. 7 is a diagram of a data structure for representing clips inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

[0025]FIG. 8 is a graphic of a graphical user interface for providingcapturing functions in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0026] FIGS. 9-13 are graphics of graphical user interfaces forproviding editing functions in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0027]FIG. 14 is a graphic of a graphical user interface for providingrecording functions in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention;

[0028]FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating interaction between amodule for maintaining and displaying a storyboard and a module forcreating and maintaining clip description of a composition;

[0029]FIG. 16 is a flowchart describing how clip descriptions and shotdescriptions are synchronized during capture of motion videoinformation;

[0030]FIGS. 17a-17 e are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation;

[0031]FIGS. 18a-18 b are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation;

[0032]FIGS. 19a-19 d are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation;

[0033]FIGS. 20a-20 f are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation;

[0034]FIG. 21a-21 d are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation;

[0035]FIGS. 22a-22 g are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation;

[0036]FIGS. 23a-23 c are a representation of timeline behavior producedin response to a user operation; and

[0037]FIGS. 24a-24 i and 24 k-24 m are a representation of timelinebehavior produced in response to a user operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0038] The present invention will be more completely understood throughthe following detailed description which should be read in conjunctionwith the attached drawing in which similar reference numbers indicatesimilar structures.

[0039] While many computer systems are available which enable a user toedit motion video, the selection of an appropriate interface for makingcommands available is a complex task due to the large number of possibleoperations which can be performed on video information. In the presentinvention, the graphical user interface directs a user through the stepsof editing a motion video program, including planning (storyboarding),capturing the video information, editing the video information andexporting the video information to a final data file or a video tape. Inthe process of editing, the user is directed through the steps ofediting the primary content of the video program, adding effects attransitions between video clips, adding titles and credits, and finally,editing sound. By providing a simple interface which directs a userthrough these steps in which follows the steps typically used byprofessional video editors, the ability to edit quality video programsis available to the non-professional.

[0040] One embodiment of this invention will now be described in moredetail. In this document, several terms are used to describe a videoprogram and associated information. The following are definitions ofthese terms. A composition is a heterogeneous aggregation of tracks and,in one embodiment of the invention includes five tracks: one titletrack, one video track and three audio tracks. The composition is alsoreferred to as a motion video program. One of the audio tracks issynchronized and grouped with the video track (the audio track that iscaptured with the video), one audio track is called a voice-over trackand the third audio track is a music track. Each track is a two partentity: a synchronized media subtrack and an effects subtrack. Eachsubtrack consists of a sequence of segments and holes. The mediasubtrack includes media segments, and the effects subtrack includeseffects segments. A media segment is a portion of a media subtrack witha time-based beginning and ending. The interior of a media segmentrefers to a portion of a media clip. A media clip is an independent,playable entity which has duration and possibly multiple pieces ofsynchronized media associated with it. Media clips also have ancillarydata associated with them, such as a name and description. Media ismotion video media, audio media, or text media stored in a data file ona computer, for example, in a QuickTime file. A sync-lock group is agroup of segments which have been grouped together for editing purposes.Editing operations will not move the components of a sync-lock grouprelative to each other. The video track and its corresponding audiotrack may be the only sync-lock group and cannot be unlocked orunsynced. A media segment is a video media segment, audio media segment,and text media segment, depending on which track the segment resides. Ahole is a span in a track with a time-based beginning and ending whichhas no associated segment. On the video track, a hole displays black. Onan audio track, a hole plays silence. On the titles track, a holedisplays full transparency. Relative to a point or span in thecomposition, upstream composition elements are located earlier in thecomposition and downstream composition elements are located later in thecomposition. The beginning of a media segment is called its incomingedge, and the ending of a media segment is called its outgoing edge. Theedges of media segments are also called transition points. A transitionpoint has zero length. The edges of a group are transition points wherea segment on one side of the transition is inside the group and anysegment on the other side of the transition is outside of the group. Acut is a transition point that does not have an effect segment spanningit. At a transition point between two segments, the outgoing segment isthe segment which displays before the transition point, and the incomingsegment is the segment which displays after the transition point. Hence,the outgoing segment is to the left of a cut in the timeline: theincoming segment is to the right.

[0041] The present invention may be implemented using a digitalcomputer. A typical computer system 20 is shown in FIG. 1, and includesincluding a processor 22 connected to a memory system 24 via aninterconnection mechanism 26. A special-purpose processor 23 may also beused for performing specific functions, such as encoding/decoding ofdata, or complex mathematical or graphic operations. An input device 28is also connected to the processor and memory system via theinterconnection mechanism as is an output device 30. The interconnectionis typically a combination of one or more buses and one or moreswitches. As shown in FIG. 4, the output device 30 may be a display 32and the input device may be a keyboard 34 or mouse 36. The processor,interconnection mechanism and memory system typically are embodied in amain unit 38.

[0042] It should be understood that one or more output devices may beconnected to the computer system. Example output devices include acathode ray tube (CRT) display, liquid crystal display (LCD), printers,communication devices, such as a modem, and audio output. To enablerecording of motion video information in an analog form, this computersystem also may have a video output for providing a video signal to aVCR, camcorder or the like. It should also be understood that one ormore input devices 28 may be connected to the computer system. Exampleinput devices include a video capture circuit connected to a VCR orcamcorder, keyboard, keypad, trackball, mouse, pen and tablet,communication device, audio input and scanner. The motion video capturecircuit may be one of many commercially available boards. For example, avideo capture card may connect to the PCI interface, and may useMotion-JPEG video compression and pixel averaging to compress images to320×240-pixels at 30 frames per second. The video capture card mayreceive and may output composite video and S-video. It should beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the particular input oroutput devices used in combination with the computer system or to thosedescribed herein. The input and output devices may be included within orexternal to the main unit 38.

[0043] The computer system 20 may be a general purpose computer system,which is programmable using a high level computer programming language,such as “C++” or “Pascal”. The computer system may also be implementedusing specially programmed, special purpose hardware. In a generalpurpose computer system, the processor is typically a commerciallyavailable processor, such as the Power PC 603e RISC microprocessor. Itmay include a special purpose processor such as a CL540B Motion JPEGcompression/decompression chip, from CCube of Milpitas, Calif. Manyother processors are also available. Such a processor executes a programcalled an operating system, such as the Macintosh operating system, suchas Macintosh System Software, version 7.5.3, which controls theexecution of other computer programs and provides scheduling, debugging,input output control accounting compilation, storage assignment, datamanagement and memory management, and communication control and relatedservices. The processor and operating system define a computer platformfor which application programs in high level programming languages arewritten. It should be understood that the invention is not limited to aparticular computer platform, particular operating system particularprocessor, or particular high level programming language. Additionally,the computer system 20 may be a multi-processor computer system or mayinclude multiple computers connected over a computer network. Oneembodiment of the present invention, is implemented using either aMacintosh Performa computer or Power Macintosh computer, with a PCIexpansion slot and the Apple Video System, such as Performa 5400, 5420or 6400 series computers from Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif.Alternatively, an Apple Power Macintosh computer with a built-incompositor as video input and a PCI expansion slot, such as the 7600 or8500 series computers with audio/video capabilities may be used. Thecomputer system may also include an application for managing motionvideo files, such as the QuickTime 2.5 motion video system of AppleComputer.

[0044] An example memory system 24 will now be described in more detailin connection with FIG. 2. A memory system typically includes a computerreadable and writable non-volatile recording medium 40, of which amagnetic disk, a flash memory, and tape are examples. The disk may beremovable, known as a floppy disk, and/or permanent, known as a harddrive. In particular, a PowerPC processor-based Macintosh Performacomputer, having a gigabyte or more capacity hard disk drive and atleast 16 to 24 megabytes of DRAM is preferred. The disk should havesufficient size to hold the video information to be edited, which istypically around 830 k bytes per second. The disk, which is shown inFIG. 2, has a number of tracks, as indicated at 42, in which signals arestored, in binary form, i.e., a form interpreted as a sequence of 1'sand 0's, as shown at 44. Such signals may define an application programto be executed by the microprocessor, or information stored on the diskto be processed by the application program, such as video informationstored in a data file. Typically, in operation, the processor 22 causesdata to be read from the non-volatile recording medium 40 into anintegrated circuit memory element 46, which is typically a volatilerandom access memory, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) orstatic memory (SRAM). The integrated circuit memory element 46 allowsfor faster access to the information by the processor and disk 40, andis typically called the system memory. The system memory may be used asa buffer between the disk and output device 30 or the video information,as will be described in more detail below. The processor generallycauses the data to be manipulated within the integrated circuit memory46 and copies the data to the disk 40 if modified, when processing iscompleted. A variety of mechanisms are known for managing data movementbetween the disk 40 and the integrated circuit memory 46 and theinvention is not limited thereto. It should also be understood that theinvention is not limited to a particular memory system.

[0045] The different levels of software which interact in this systemwill now be described in more detail in connection with FIG. 3. Using acomputer such as a Power Macintosh 7500 or 8500. using the System 7.5.2operating system or higher, as indicated at 60, a video capture card isprovided as indicated at 62. The QuickTime video system 64 interactswith the video capture card 62 via drivers 66. A video player system 67,such as the Apple Video Player, interacts with QuickTime 2.5. Thesoftware providing the editing instructions and graphical user interfaceto access these instructions is also designed to interact with QuickTimein parallel with the video player, as indicated at 68.

[0046] Such a platform as described in FIGS. 1-3 can be used toimplement a graphical user interface in accordance with the invention.FIG. 4 shows, on an output device 32, a perspective view of a graphicaluser interface in one embodiment of the invention. Within the displayarea 48, a single window interface 50 is shown, having severalselectable interfaces. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the interfaces52, 54, 56 and 58 are selectable by tabs. It should be understood thatmany other mechanisms are available, such as so-called “radio buttons”or “check boxes,” which may be used to select a desired interface. Ingeneral, each interface is selectable in response to a cursor controlledinput device, such as a mouse 36, but may also be keyboard operated.

[0047] The graphical user interface 50 and its functionality will now bedescribed in more detail in connection with FIGS. 5-16. Referring now toFIG. 5, one of the selected interfaces is shown along with the graphiccontrols for selection of the other interfaces. The four interfaces inthis embodiment include a storyboard interface 52, an interface 54 forbringing in motion video information, an interface 56 for editing amovie, an interface 58 for sending a movie out, for example, forrecording to an external videotape device. Unless a previously storedcomposition is being opened for editing, the user is presented witheither the storyboard interface or the bring video in interface when theediting system is first used.

[0048] The storyboard interface 52 enables a user to plan the motionvideo program to be prepared. In one aspect of the invention,storyboards or plans include filming tips and editing tips for commonmotion video programs, such as a birthday party, graduation or wedding.One aspect of the invention is that such storyboards and plans can beproduced and distributed separately from the computer program and fromactual motion video programs, by storing them on a computer-readablemedium such as a floppy disk or CD-ROM or by making them accessiblethrough a computer network. The storyboard interface 52 displays awritten description of a composition or video program, including thetitle 70 of the composition and a linear sequence of description 72 ofeach shot. In one embodiment, these sequences represent the segmentspresent in the video media track only of the composition. Holes are notrepresented in the storyboard. The displayed description of each shotincludes the title 74 of the shot a duration 76 (either actual orestimated), and a description 80 of either a filming tip or an editingtip. The duration may be a suggested duration or an actual duration ofany media associated with the shot. Each shot is assigned a number,sequentially, which is displayed over a still image 78. The still imagemay be the first frame of an associated media clip or a default imageused for all shots. Display of filming or editing tips is performed byselection of these options via an interface 82.

[0049] In the storyboard interface, a scroll bar 83 enables a user toscroll through the view of the storyboard for the selected videoprogram. The “down” arrow key changes the current selection to the groupcontaining the first shot which follows the last shot in the currentselection. Likewise, the “up” arrow key changes the current selection tothe group containing the last shot which precedes the first shot in thecurrent selection. The “Home” key changes the current selection to thegroup containing the first shot in the storyboard. The “End” key changesthe current selection to the group containing the last shot in thestoryboard. “Page Up” and “Page Down” keys may be used to scroll throughseveral shot descriptions at a time. When any storyboard navigationoccurs due to keystrokes, the storyboard view scrolls to display theearliest selected shot. Typing a shot number selects a shot. Numberstyped in less time than a double-click time of a mouse are treated asmultidigital numbers for navigation purposes.

[0050] The information used for each shot to enable the display of thestoryboard interface 50 can be represented by an array or other orderedstructure 86 of shot descriptions 87 (see FIG. 6) which stores, for eachshot, the title 90, a film tip 94, an editing tip 96, a duration 98 andan indication 100 of a pointer to another structure representing a clipof media data captured in a video data file and associated with theshot. Operations which edit, delete, or add information about a shot fora given video program manipulate the data in this data structure 86. Thedisplays shown in FIG. 5 are generated by creating display objects inresponse to data read from the data structure for a shot. These displayobjects are regenerated when necessary in response to changes to thedata that they represent, as will be described in more detail below.

[0051] A data structure 88 similar to data structure 86 may also be usedto represent the motion video program itself, and includes clipdescriptions 89 for each clip including a reference to a motion videodata file to be used to produce the clip. Such a data structure 88 isshown in FIG. 7. It should be understood that the shot descriptions 87in FIG. 5 and the clip descriptions 89 in FIG. 7 may be combined intoone structure to represent the storyboard and motion video data of amotion video program. While the clip descriptions and shot descriptionsmay have redundant data the redundant data clearly can be omitted andcan be represented in only one of the structures or only once in acombined structure. The clip data structure 88 may be implemented as aQuickTime movie. Accordingly, a clip description will have an indicationof a file name 102, indication of start and stop times 104 within thefile, and other information 106 about the data file. A clip descriptionmay have empty fields, i.e., no video data file, yet but have aduration, to indicate a “hole” in a track in the program.

[0052] Referring again to FIG. 5, using standard techniques forimplementation, any one of the displayed elements 74, 76 and 80 may beselected and edited by a user. Operations on a shot, such as insertionof a shot, deletion of a shot and moving of a shot are also possible. Astoryboard can also be printed to allow a user to use the filming tipsduring filming, for example. Moving a shot may be performed by the userselecting and dragging a shot to a transition point in the displaybetween shots. The computer detects the location of, for example, amouse cursor, and determines a corresponding shot which the select shotshould follow and rearranges the order of the shot descriptions in thedata structure 86.

[0053] New shots may be added via a command button 84, through which anew shot description 72 is added with blank field 74, 76, 78 and 80,either immediately after a selected shot or at the end of a list ofshots. The new shot exists only in the storyboard and is not added tothe timeline of clips until the associated media data is captured. Adefault title, e.g., “Untitled”, and duration, e.g., “0”, and emptystrings for filming and editing tips may be used for the new shot.

[0054] To delete a selected shot from the storyboard, the user selectsthe shot using the navigation steps noted above, and indicates a deleteoperation, for example, by using a <delete>key. Shots deleted from thestoryboard are deleted from the timeline also, if there is acorresponding clip description, but the associated media is not deleted.Only the reference to the media in the clip description is deleted.

[0055] The operations performed on the clips in the timeline preferablyare reflected automatically in the shot descriptions of the storyboardand vice versa. While this feature is easily implemented by representingthe shot and clips using a single data structure, when clips and shotsare represented separately, each operation on a clip or shot descriptionshould also make appropriate modifications to a corresponding shot orclip description, respectively. The process of controlling the clip andshot descriptions for this purpose will be described in more detailbelow.

[0056] The combination of the shot descriptions and clip descriptionsare particularly useful in capturing motion video information from avideo storage device, such as a camcorder, into a motion video data filewhere it can be edited on the computer. An interface 54 providingcommands for capturing motion video, i.e. bringing motion video datainto the computer system, is shown in FIG. 8. The interface forcapturing motion video into the computer includes a display area 120,which displays motion video information currently being received by thecomputer as an input. For example, a user may be playing back avideotape on a camcorder connected as an input device through a videocapture board to the computer system. If no video is available, thedisplay area 120 can convey an instruction to connect a video source tothe computer. A control 122 controls recording of the received motionvideo information. By selecting the record button 124, motion videoinformation being displayed in region 120 is captured into a data fileuntil the stop button 126 is selected. Audio levels may be displayed at128 and output of audio information may be muted using selection area130. A display region 132 also displays available disk area as afunction of time of video information which can be captured. In thisexample, it is assumed that roughly 27.7 k is required for each frame,such that roughly 830 k is required for each second of videoinformation. This value is generated by monitoring the available diskspace, dividing the available space value by a target size per frame(resulting in a number of frames which can be stored), and convertingthat quotient into minutes and seconds using the time resolution of thevideo, e.g., 30 frames per second.

[0057] A storyboard region is also displayed at 134 to indicate the planof shots for the selected video program for which data is beingcaptured. A timeline 136 is displayed which corresponds to thestoryboard region 134. The storyboard region 134 includes, for eachshot, its title 138, an indication 140 of whether or not the video datafor the shot has been captured (determined using the reference field100, FIG. 6), and an indication 142 of the title of the video program. Aselection button 144 also allows for the insertion of a new shot,similar to the operation performed using button 84 in FIG. 5. Using thestoryboard display 134, shots may be selected, inserted or deleted. Suchfunctionality can be provided using standard techniques. Becauseoperations on this interface affect the data structure shown in FIG. 6,changes made to the storyboard through the interface 54 of FIG. 8 arealso reflected in the storyboard interface 52 shown in FIG. 5, as willbe described below. Similarly, the timeline 136 has a display object 146for each clip which is captured. The display object has a size, which iscalculated as a function of the duration of the clip, and a title 148,obtained from the title of the corresponding shot description. A bar 150also indicates whether audio is associated with the clip.

[0058] Motion video information is captured using this interface 54 andis tied directly to a selected shot. Upon initiation, the first shot inthe storyboard for which motion video information has not yet beencaptured is selected. However, the user may select any given shot in thestoryboard region for capturing associated motion video information.After a user selects a shot, or if no shot is selected, the user maycause motion video information to be input to the computer by playing aportion of a videotape from a camcorder device. The input motion videodata is displayed in display area 120. The user depresses button 124 tobegin capture. The captured motion video information is stored in a datafile on the hard disk of the computer system. The file name of that fileis associated with the selected shot, if any, and corresponding clip inthe storyboard and timeline. If no shot is selected, then a new mediafile is created in a library or directory of files. When the user hasfinished capturing the selected motion video information, the stopbutton 126 is depressed and the data file on the hard disk is closed.

[0059] By capturing motion video information in this manner, the motionvideo information is automatically and immediately associated with aselected shot. By capturing video information directly into the timelinerepresenting the motion video program, the need for a “bin” of motionvideo data files is eliminated and the user interface is simplified.When all shots have been associated with clips, a message may bedisplayed to the user that tells the user to continue to the nextselectable interface, for editing the movie. Nonetheless, the user maystill add shots and capture more video.

[0060] The interaction of the clip and shot descriptions will now bedescribed in connection with FIGS. 15 and 16. A storyboard module 200 isa part of the computer program which handles operations on shotdescriptions of a storyboard. It receives as an input, and outputs, shotdescriptions 202. User input 204 is processed to change the data in theshot descriptions and to generated the displayed graphics 206 of thestoryboard interface 52. Similarly, a capture module 208 processes theshot descriptions and the clip descriptions 216 to provide the displaygraphics 210 of interface 54. It also processes user input 212 toperform operations such as capturing data or inserting and deletingshots. Video input and output 214 is controlled into data files. Theclip descriptions 216 are created and modified according to the selectedshot and the name of the data file into which the data is captured. Whenan operation is performed on a clip in the timeline, the capture module208 modifies the corresponding clip description 216. The correspondingshot is modified via a message passing technique, indicating a clip thatis modified and the operation causing the modification.

[0061]FIG. 16 is a flowchart describing an example operation in whichthe clip descriptions and shot descriptions are synchronized. Given aselected shot and a command to begin capturing video data a data filefor the video information is created in step 220. Video data is thencaptured in steps 222 and 224. A clip description is created with areference to the data file, and start and stop times corresponding tothe beginning of the file in step 226. This clip description is storedin a data structure 88 which represents the sequence of clipdescriptions which make up the timeline. A message is then passed instep 228 to the storyboard indicating that a clip was created, having aduration. The selected shot description modifies its duration andpointer to reference the new clip description in step 230.

[0062] After clips for a movie have been captured, more finely detailedediting of the video program can be started. Accordingly, another of theselectable interfaces 56 provides functions for editing a movie, asshown in FIG. 9 via several selectable interfaces 152-156. The interfacefor editing a movie has a timeline region 160, which includes arepresentation of a timeline 162, associated title track 164, anadditional audio track 166, and a soundtrack 168. A timeline is atime-based representation of a composition. The horizontal dimensionrepresents time, and the vertical dimension represents the tracks of thecomposition. Each of the tracks has a fixed row in the timeline which itoccupies. The video track is split into three rows, including the effectsubtrack, the video media subtrack, and the audio subtrack. The size ofa displayed element, such as element 170, is determined as a function ofthe duration of the segment it represents and a timeline scale,described below. Each element in the title, audio and soundtracktimelines has a position determined by its start time within the motionvideo program, a duration, a title, and associated data. Each track isthus represented by a structure similar to data structure 88, but audiotracks have references to data files containing audio information.

[0063] The timeline also has a scale which specifies how much time acertain number of pixels represents. To increase the scale means toincrease the number of pixels that represent one time unit. Providing amechanism to increase and decrease the time scale allows a user to focusin on a particular location in the composition, or to have more of anoverview of the composition.

[0064] Each of the selectable interfaces of the editing interface has aviewer window 172, which has the same size and location within eachwindow. The viewer window 172 also has an associated timeline 174,representing the entire video program, which includes a play button 176,forward and backward skip buttons 178 and 180, and a position indicator182, which points to the present position within the video program whichis being played back. The indicator 184 is linked to another positionindicator 186 in the timeline region 160. The various buttons 176, 178,180 and indicator 182 can be used to control viewing of the videoprogram being edited. The program can be played back at a full rate,paused to show a still frame and shuttled to view individual frames tothe left and/or right at a number of speeds.

[0065] In the viewer interface 152, a display region 188 shows the titleand duration of the video program. A user can play back the videoprogram, adjust the duration of clips (by trimming), delete clips,insert clips and/or move clips within the video program. A segment inthe timeline may also be split into two separate segments or clips.These operations can be performed by simple cut and paste operations onthe timeline 162 which can be implemented using standard techniques. Forexample, deletion of a clip from the timeline replaces the clipdescription with a hole of the same duration. The reference to this clipis removed from the corresponding shot description.

[0066] For rearranging clips on the timeline, clips are insertable attransitions and can be performed using a “drag and drop” operation,which can be implemented using standard techniques. Insertion of a clipinvolves creating a hole the size of the clip, then replacing the holewith the clip to be inserted. The hole may be created after a selectedclip, at a transition point nearest the drop or anywhere beyond the endof the last clip in the timeline. It may be desirable to show what thetimeline would look like if a drop were to occur when the user has adrop position selected, but prior to the drop operation being performed.An inserted clip may be selected by a copy or cut operation, followed bya paste operation; a selection from a library; or by dragging a selectedclip to the desired location (which is in essence a combination of cutand paste operations).

[0067] Trim operations add or remove frames from selected edges ofsegments in the composition. A trim right operation either removesframes from an incoming edge or adds frames to an outgoing edge. A trimleft operation either removes frames from an outgoing edge or addsframes to an incoming edge. This operation is performed by simplyadjusting the start or stop frames in the clip description. A trimoperation accordingly cannot add or remove frames beyond the boundary ofthe data file used by the clip. To provide additional boundaryconditions on the trim operation, the start point may be required toprecede the stop point and define at least one frame. Trim operationsother than edge trims may provide more advanced functionality, but arelikely not to be needed by the nonprofessional. The selection of a righttrim or left trim operation uses some mechanism for the user to selectan edge and to indicate that a trim operation is desired. One examplemechanism which may be used are “trim handles” which are displayed onthe left and right ends of a displayed clip when a user selects theclip. The user may then drag the edge to the desired trim point.

[0068] Many other more advanced operations may be performed ontimelines. A timeline behavior specification is provided by FIGS. 17a-24m, and describes in more detail the desired behavior in response to mostuser operations.

[0069]FIGS. 17a-24 m are diagrams which show insertion deletion andtrimming operations in a timeline which are possible by adding frames orclips and by removing frames or clips. These figures are shown asexamples only and many other operations are possible. FIG. 17a showsthat a selected clip A may be indicated by a long clip which has forexample, a length of ten frames or a short clip which has a length offive frames. Other clips B. C and D are shown in FIG. 17b. Generallyholes may be shown with their length as eleven frames. A playoutposition is indicated in the clip as shown in FIG. 17c. A playoutposition may be indicated in a hole and shown in FIG. 17d, while aselected transition may be indicated as shown in 17 e.

[0070]FIGS. 18a-b illustrate behavior which occurs when holes areremoved from a timeline. As shown in FIG. 18a, a hole which is elevenframes in length exists between clips B and C. FIG. 18a then illustratesthe timeline after the hole has been removed. Similarly, FIG. 18billustrates a hole before clip B and a hole before clip C. FIG. 18b thenillustrates the timeline after removal of the first hole.

[0071]FIGS. 19a-19 d illustrate behavior which occurs by adding a hole.For instance, in FIG. 19a a transition is selected between clips B andC. FIG. 19a then illustrates the timeline after a hold has been addedbetween clips B and C. FIG. 19b illustrates a timeline having a holebetween clips C and D. FIG. 19b then illustrates a timeline after a holehas been added following clip B. FIG. 19c illustrates a transitionbefore clip C, then FIG. 19c illustrates a hole which is added beforethe selected transition in clip C. Since a hole seven frames in lengthalready existed before the transition in clip C, as shown in FIG. 19c,only four frames need to be added to create a hole before the selectedtransition. Similarly, in FIG. 19d there is a seven frame gap between aselected transition in clip B and clip D. FIG. 19d then illustrates ahole which has been added between clips B and D by adding four frames tothe existing seven frames.

[0072]FIGS. 20a-20 f illustrate delete/cut behavior. FIGS. 20a-20 c donot include a hole before or after the deletion. FIG. 20a illustratesthree clips in a timeline.

[0073]FIG. 20a then illustrates deleting a front clip A which results ina timeline as shown in FIG. 20a having clips B and C. FIG. 20billustrates three clips including a middle clip A. FIG. 20b thenillustrates a timeline after a middle clip A has been removed. FIG. 20cillustrates three clips with a last clip A, then FIG. 20c illustratesdeleting the last clip A to result in a timeline having only clip B andC.

[0074]FIG. 20g illustrates a timeline with three clips A,B and Cincluding a hole which is eleven frames in length. FIG. 20h illustratesa timeline after clip A has been removed in which the hole is preservedbetween clips B and C. FIG. 20i illustrates a timeline having threeclips with a hole between clip B and A. FIG. 20j illustrates removingclip A, resulting in a timeline including clips B and C with the holenow between clips B and C. FIG. 20k illustrates three clips wherein clipA is included in the hole between clips B and C. FIG. 201 illustrates atimeline which results after deleting clip A from the hole.

[0075]FIGS. 21a-d illustrate pasting a clip into a timeline. For examplein FIG. 21aa timeline includes clips B and C with a transition betweenthem. Clip A is pasted between clips B and C resulting in the timelinenext shown in FIG. 21a. In FIG. 21b, a timeline is shown with a holebeyond a selected transition. FIG. 21b then illustrates a timeline aftera clip A has been inserted between clips B and C. FIG. 21c illustrates atimeline having clips C and D including a hole between a selectedtransition in clip C. FIG. 21c then illustrates a clip which has beenpasted before the selected transition in clip C. FIG. 21d illustrates ahole which is existing between the transition in clip B and clip D. Atrack as shown next in FIG. 21d which illustrates a clip A has beenadded after the selected transition in clip B.

[0076]FIGS. 22a-22 g illustrates the behavior which results fromdragging a clip from a timeline. In FIG. 22a, clip A, which is includedin a timeline also including clips B and C, is dragged from the timelineand dropped between clips B and C. The third line of FIG. 22aillustrates clip A which is dragged and dropped at the end of thetimeline after clip C. The fourth line of FIG. 22a illustrates draggingclip A and dropping it eleven frames after the end of the timeline.

[0077]FIG. 22b illustrates a timeline in which clip A exists in themiddle of clips B and C. Clip A may be dragged and dropped before clipB. The third line of FIG. 22b illustrates a timeline which results afterclip A is dragged and dropped at the end of the timeline. Clip A mayalso be dragged and dropped eleven frames after the end of the timeline.

[0078]FIG. 22c illustrates a timeline including clip A at the end of thetimeline. In this example, the length of the timeline is not preservedafter a clip is dragged from the end of a timeline. Clip A may bedragged to the beginning of the timeline before clip B or it may bedragged and dropped between clips B and C. Similar to the above examplesin FIG. 22, clip A may be dragged to the end of the timeline and droppedeleven frames after clip C.

[0079]FIG. 22d illustrates a clip A in a timeline which may be draggedso that the length of the timeline is preserved. For example, clip A maybe dragged and dropped between clip B and a hole. In addition, clip Amay be dragged and dropped seven frames after the start of the hole orit may be dropped after the hole, but before clip C. Clip a may also bedropped at the end of the timeline following clip C or it may be draggedand dropped, for example, four frames after the end of the timeline.

[0080]FIG. 22e illustrates further examples of dragging clip A andpreserving a hole and the length of the timeline. For example, clip Amay be dragged into the middle of a hole, but before clip B or it may bedragged before clip B or between clips B and C. Clip A may be alsodragged to the end of the timeline and may be dropped four frames afterthe end of the timeline FIG. 22f illustrates dragging a last clip in atimeline without preserving the length of the timeline. For example,clip A may be dragged to the beginning of a timeline and as shown, thehole after clip B is not preserved. Clip A may be dragged and droppedbetween clips C and B or may be dragged and dropped at the end of clipB. Clip A may also, for example, be dragged and dropped seven orthirteen frames after the end of clip B and after the start of a hole.

[0081]FIG. 22g illustrates dragging a clip which is surrounded by ahole. Clip A may be dragged to the beginning of a timeline and droppedbefore clip B as shown in FIG. 22g. These operations preserve the holeand the length of the timeline. For example, clip A may be dragged anddropped after clip B but before the beginning of the first hole. Clip Amay also be dragged so that it is dropped four frames after thebeginning of the hole or it may be dropped between the end of the holeand the beginning of clip B. In addition, clip A may be dragged to theend of clip B or it may be dragged and dropped four frames after the endof the timeline.

[0082]FIGS. 23a-23 c illustrate operations performed by dragging a clipfrom an outside timeline. FIG. 23a illustrates a timeline with clips Band C. However, as shown in the next line, clip A may be dragged from anoutside timeline and dropped before clip B. Clip A may be dropped alsobetween clips B and C, after clip C or, for example, seven frames afterthe end of clip C.

[0083]FIG. 23b is similar to FIG. 23a except that a hole exists in thetimeline between clips B and C. The same functions of dragging anddropping clip A may be performed while preserving the hole between clipsB and C.

[0084]FIG. 23c illustrates a timeline including two holes and a clip Band C. Clip A may be dragged from an outside timeline and dropped fourframes from the start of the timeline. Clip A may also be dropped beforeclip B, after clip B into a second hole after clip B or in a second holefive frames after clip B. Clip A may also be dropped at the end of thetimeline after clip C or, for example, four frames after the end of thetimeline.

[0085]FIGS. 24a-24 i and 24 k-24 m illustrate trim behavior whichresults from trimming clips in a timeline. FIG. 24a illustrates clips Aand B and the result from trimming clip A such that the inpoint istrimmed in five frames by removing five frames from the beginning ofclip A. As shown, the length of the other items in the timeline arepreserved. FIG. 24b illustrates a clip A and B where the input istrimmed out by adding five frames prior to clip A. The result is shownin the second line of FIG. 24b with a result of clips A and B being ofequal length. FIGS. 24c and 24 d illustrate trimming clip A such thatthe outpoint is trimmed in five frames by removing five frames from theend of clip A (FIG. 24c) or is trimmed out five frames by adding fiveframes subsequent to the end of clip A (FIG. 24d). FIG. 24e illustratesa timeline having a hole before clip A. Clip A is trimmed at its inpointin five frames and the result is shown in the second line of FIG. 24e.FIG. 24f illustrates a hole before clip A and a trim operation performedon clip A trimming the inpoint out five frames. FIGS. 24g and 24 hillustrate a timeline having a hole before clip A and trimming theoutpoint in by five frames (FIG. 24g) and trimming the outpoint out byfive frames (FIG. 24h). FIG. 24i illustrates a timeline having a holeafter a clip A and before clip B. FIG. 24i and FIGS. 24k through 24 millustrate a hole after a selected clip A and before a clip B. Thesecond line of these examples illustrate the result of the timelineafter trimming clip A in and out at its inpoints and outpoints by fiveframes.

[0086] When a user has edited the clips of the video program in moredetail, the next step to perform in the editing process is the additionof special effects at transitions. However, the user may access thesespecial effects at any time and is not required to complete all trimsprior to creating any effects.

[0087] A second selectable interface 153 for editing the motion videoincludes operations for selecting special effects to be applied totransitions between two clips. Given two selected clips, a selectedeffect can be applied to the transition. A corresponding object 190 inFIG. 9 is displayed on the timeline, describing the transition. Asuitable interface for providing selection of an effect and clips isshown in FIG. 10.

[0088] A list of possible effects is provided at region 192. Each effecthas a title 193 which refers to a computer program which causes theeffect to be made. The effect may be applied by selecting button 194 andis applied to the transition closest to the current position on thetimeline. The effect may be removed, and replaced by a straight cut, byselecting button 196. A selected effect can be previewed in window 198,for example by “double-clicking” on the name in the effects window 192.Each effect has a corresponding file in which the effect has beencreated using graphics of the letters A and B for this purpose.

[0089] When an effect is selected, an effect segment is created in theeffect subtrack of the video track, with a default duration, e.g., onesecond. The effect as applied to the transition is rendered in thebackground and associated with the segment. When displayed and selectedon the timeline, the effects segment may be trimmed. Such trimming maybe implemented in the same manner as a trim on a regular clip.

[0090] After addition of special effects, such as transition effects, tothe motion video program, it is common to add titles next. Operationsenabling a user to add titles to the video program are provided throughinterface 154, such as shown in FIG. 11. While titling operations andhow they are performed on motion video are known in this art thisparticular interface provides an easy mechanism for adding titles. Thisinterface includes an editing region 200 and format selection buttons202 and 204. Buttons 202 allow bold, italic and underlining formatting,while buttons 204 adjust justification. Font and size are selected via amenu style interface 206 and 208, respectively. Additional options forscrolling are provided at 210. Scrolling can be made left to right,right to left, top to bottom, or bottom to top. A titling effect can beremoved or applied through selection buttons 212 and 214, respectively.This information input through this interface is used, using knowntechniques, to apply the title to the video information and to displaythe effect in the display region 172. However, the video data file ofthe clip to which it is applied is not modified. The titling informationmay be finally applied, for example, only when the video program isoutput in final form. In this way, titles may be added and removed moreeasily.

[0091] Using the titling interface, when no scrolling option is enabled,the dimensions of the space which can contain text is limited to theframe size, which in this case is represented by the canvas area 209. Ifthe vertical scroll option is enabled, then the width of the canvas isthe width of the video image, but the height is indefinite. If thehorizontal scroll option is enabled, then the height of the canvas isthe height of the video image and the width is indefinite. The length ofthe title may be the length of any associated video clip or the lengthof a hole over which it is created. When this interface is active, allmodifications to the timeline are done to the title track.

[0092] Typically, one of the final steps of the process of making avideo program involves “sweetening” of the sound or audio tracks. Thisinvolves more detailed editing of the audio tracks. Another interface155 shown in FIG. 12, provides editing functions for sound. Using thisinterface, all modifications to clips, including creation and deletionof clips, operate on one of the audio tracks. Given a selected point inthe video program, a voice can be captured directly into the timeline ina manner similar to the way video is captured, via interface 220. Suchan operation automatically creates a voice-over clip on the voice-overtrack. Similarly, music, such as from a CD-ROM, can be imported usinginterface 222. Such an operation automatically creates a sound clip onthe soundtrack. Given a selected clip of voice or music information, orfrom the video/audio timeline, the volume of each selected track can beadjusted using interface region 224. It is also possible to selectfade-in, fade-out options. Given the inputs provided through thisinterface, the operations to be performed are implemented using knowntechniques.

[0093] Finally, a library of audio and video information can be providedand accessed through a library interface 156, as shown in FIG. 13. Alist operation invoked through button 230 causes a list of the availableclips to be displayed in region 232. The available clips are all mediaclips which have been digitized or imported for use in a composition forexample, through the “Bring Video In” interface or through the Sound”interface. The list operation involves a directory lookup to beperformed by the computer on its file system for example. The list viewshows clips in a manner similar to the storyboard of interface 52. Foreach clip, its date, type, duration and description are displayed. Thesefields are editable. The preview button 234 allows a user to see oneclip at a time from the library instead of an entire list. In this mode,a user can display a selected video clip from the library in region 232using a viewer which is similar to, but smaller than, the viewer 172which is reserved for playing back the currently edited video programfrom the timeline.

[0094] When a user has completed editing a movie, the movie can be savedin a final form as one contiguous video program, using the interface 58shown in FIG. 14. The title of the video program is shown in region 250.Start button 252 and stop button 254 are provided to control, of course,starting and stopping of the playback of the video, respectively.Selections are provided to the user for either previewing the videoprogram on the computer screen, as indicated at 256, for making avideotape by outputting the video information through an encoder to aVCR, for example in VHS format, as indicated at 258, or the videoinformation can be saved as a data file in one of several formats, suchas QuickTime video, Microsoft video, MPEG video, or Motion-JPEG video asindicated at 260. Such files could be used for presentations, Internetpublishing or CD-ROM publication. The selection of the format of thefinal program is selected, for example, by using the drop down menu 262.Given the inputs provided through this interface, the titles arerendered. The computer then instructs the user, if appropriate, toensure that the destination of the data, such as a camcorder, is ready.The steps of generating and playing back the video data from the datafiles into one contiguous stream of video data may be implemented usingknown techniques.

[0095] By providing a simplified interface as described above foraccessing several commands for video editing, playback and recording, auser is easily guided through the process of producing a video program.

[0096] At any time during the editing process, a user may want to stopand save the current version of the video program or storyboard.Additionally, the user may want to continue editing a composition thatis not yet finished. This capability is provided through menu functionswhich are separate from the selectable interfaces that provide theplanning, capturing, editing and recording functions. Menu functions mayalso be provided for each interface to represent keystrokes used toexecute a given command and to set default values for audio and video,input and output, and file and signal formats.

[0097] A composition can be stored in one or both of two formats. Thefirst format stores the composition only as a storyboard. Storing acomposition as a storyboard involves creating a data file and storing inthe data file all of the information about a storyboard, withoutinformation about the associated clips. The second format stores all ofthe information about the current video program as well as the state ofthe editing program, i.e., what interface is being used during the saveoperation. This file format includes an indication of the interfacebeing used, followed by the representations of each track, and the clipdescriptions in each track, along with the storyboard shot descriptionsincluding the indications of associated clips. Given a storedcomposition, when the document is opened again for further editing, thesame interface which was last used is presented to the user.

[0098] Having now described a few embodiments of the invention, itshould be apparent to those skilled in the art that the foregoing ismerely illustrative and not limiting, having been presented by way ofexample only. Numerous modifications and other embodiments are withinthe scope of one of ordinary skill in the art and are contemplated asfalling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims and equivalent thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product, comprising: acomputer readable medium storing computer program instructions for acomputer program that facilitates editing of a motion picture usingmotion video data on a computer, wherein the computer program, whenexecuted by a computer provides a graphical user interface, comprising:a viewer window on a display for the computer for viewing motion videodata; a timeline region on the display and nonoverlapping with theviewer window for displaying a timeline representing selections of themotion video data in a temporal order that specifies the motion picture;a plurality of selectable, mutually exclusive, interfaces on thedisplay, wherein each selectable interface is selected by user selectionof one of a set of graphical elements associated with the selectableinterfaces, wherein each of the selectable interfaces, when selected,displays information in a region that is nonoverlapping with the viewerwindow and with the timeline region, wherein the displayed informationis hidden by information displayed when another of the selectableinterfaces is selected, the selectable interfaces comprising: aninterface for allowing a user to select a clip corresponding to motionvideo data stored on the computer for placement on the timeline; aneffect interface for allowing a user to specify an effect for placementon the timeline, and wherein playback of the motion picture representedby the timeline is viewed in the viewer window and is initiated by userselection of a graphical element indicative of a playback operation;wherein size and position of the viewer window is substantiallyunchanged by selection of one of the selectable interfaces; and whereinsize and position of the timeline region is substantially unchanged byselection of one of the selectable interfaces.
 2. The computer programproduct of claim 1, wherein the selectable interfaces further comprisesa title interface for allowing a user to specify a title for placementon the timeline.
 3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein thegraphical user interface further comprising: an export graphical elementselectable by a user, wherein an export of the motion picture into aselected one of a plurality of output formats is initiated by userselection of the export graphical element.
 4. The computer programproduct of claim 3, wherein the motion picture is displayed in theviewer window during export.
 5. The computer program product of claim 4,wherein size and position of the viewer window is substantiallyunchanged by user selection of the export graphical element.
 6. Thecomputer program product of claim 1, further comprising: a capturegraphical element selectable by a user, wherein capture of motion videoinformation into data files for use in editing the motion picture isinitiated by user selection of the capture graphical element.
 7. Thecomputer program product of claim 6, wherein the motion picture isdisplayed in the viewer window during capture.
 8. The computer programproduct of claim 7, wherein size and position of the viewer window issubstantially unchanged by selection of the capture graphical element.9. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising: acapture graphical element selectable by a user wherein capture of motionvideo information into data files for use in editing the motion pictureis initiated by user selection of the capture graphical element.
 10. Thecomputer program product of claim 9, wherein the motion picture isdisplayed in the viewer window during capture.
 11. The computer programproduct of claim 10, wherein size and position of the viewer window issubstantially unchanged by selection of the capture graphical element.12. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising: acapture graphical element selectable by a user, wherein capture ofmotion video information into data files for use in editing the motionpicture is initiated by user selection of the capture graphical element.13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the motion pictureis displayed in the viewer window during capture.
 14. The computerprogram product of claim 13, wherein size and position of the viewerwindow is substantially unchanged by selection of the capture graphicalelement.
 15. The computer program product of claim 4, furthercomprising: a capture graphical element selectable by a user, whereincapture of motion video information into data files for use in editingthe motion picture is initiated by user selection of the capturegraphical element.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, whereinthe motion picture is displayed in the viewer window during capture. 17.The computer program product of claim 16, wherein size and position ofthe viewer window is substantially unchanged by selection of the capturegraphical element.
 18. The computer program product of claim 5 furthercomprising: a capture graphical element selectable by a user, whereincapture of motion video information into data files for use in editingthe motion picture is initiated by user selection of the capturegraphical element.
 19. The computer program product of claim 18, whereinthe motion picture is displayed in the viewer window during capture. 20.The computer program product of claim 19, wherein size and position ofthe viewer window is substantially unchanged by selection of the capturegraphical element.
 21. The computer program product of claim 1, whereinthe viewer window is displayed in the display vertically adjacent to thetimeline.
 22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein theregion for displaying information in the alternatively selectableinterfaces in the display is vertically adjacent to the timeline. 23.The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the region fordisplaying information in the alternatively selectable interfaces in thedisplay is horizontally adjacent to the viewer window.
 24. The computerprogram product of claim 1, wherein the region for displayinginformation in the alternatively selectable interfaces in the display isvertically adjacent to the timeline.
 25. The computer program product ofclaim 24, wherein the region for displaying information in thealternatively selectable interfaces in the display is horizontallyadjacent to the viewer window.
 26. The computer program product of claim1, wherein the region for displaying information in the alternativelyselectable interfaces in the display is horizontally adjacent to theviewer window.
 27. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein thegraphical elements associated with the selectable interfaces have anorder in the display that directs the user through editing steps. 28.The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the graphical elementsassociated with the selectable interfaces have an order in the displaythat directs the user through editing steps.
 29. The computer programproduct of claim 1, wherein the timeline includes representations ofclips of video, wherein each clip has a duration on the timeline, andwherein the graphical user interface includes trim handles for the userto select an edge of a clip and to perform a trim operation by draggingthe edge of the clip to a desired trim point.
 30. A computer programproduct, comprising: a computer readable medium storing computer programinstructions for a computer program that facilitates editing of a motionpicture using motion video data on a computer, wherein the computerprogram, when executed by a computer provides a graphical userinterface, comprising: a viewer window on a display for the computer forviewing motion video data; a timeline region on the display andnonoverlapping with the viewer window for displaying a timelinerepresenting selections of the motion video data in a temporal orderthat specifies the motion picture; a plurality of alternativelyselectable interfaces for displaying information on the display, whereineach alternatively selectable interface is associated with a graphicalelement and wherein the graphical elements for the alternativelyselectable elements are displayed simultaneously and adjacent to oneanother on the display, wherein each alternatively selectable interfaceis selected by user selection of the graphical element associated withthe selectable interface, wherein each of the alternatively selectedinterfaces, when selected, displays information on the display that ishidden by information displayed when another of the alternativelyselected interfaces is selected, the alternatively selectable interfacescomprising: an interface for allowing a user to select a clipcorresponding to motion video data stored on the computer for placementon the timeline; an effect interface for allowing a user to specify aneffect for placement on the timeline; and wherein playback of the motionpicture represented by the timeline is viewed in the viewer window andis initiated by user selection of a graphical element indicative of aplayback operation; wherein size and position of the viewer window issubstantially unchanged by selection of one of the selectableinterfaces; and wherein size and position of the timeline region issubstantially unchanged by selection of one of the selectableinterfaces.
 31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein theselectable interfaces further comprises a title interface for allowing auser to specify a title for placement on the timeline.
 32. The computerprogram product of claim 31, wherein the set of graphical elementsassociated with the alternatively selectable interfaces has an order inthe display that directs the user through editing steps.
 33. Thecomputer program product of claim 30, wherein the set of graphicalelements associated with the alternatively selectable interfaces has anorder in the display that directs the user through editing steps. 34.The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the viewer window isdisplayed in the display vertically adjacent to the timeline.
 35. Thecomputer program product of claim 34, wherein the region for displayinginformation in the alternatively selectable interfaces in the display isvertically adjacent to the timeline.
 36. The computer program product ofclaim 35, wherein the region for displaying information in thealternatively selectable interfaces in the display is horizontallyadjacent to the viewer window.
 37. The computer program product of claim30, wherein the region for displaying information in the alternativelyselectable interfaces in the display is vertically adjacent to thetimeline.
 38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein theregion for displaying information in the alternatively selectableinterfaces in the display is horizontally adjacent to the viewer window.39. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the region fordisplaying information in the alternatively selectable interfaces in thedisplay is horizontally adjacent to the viewer window.
 40. The computerprogram product of claim 30, wherein the timeline includesrepresentations of clips of video, wherein each clip has a duration onthe timeline, and wherein the graphical user interface includes trimhandles for the user to select an edge of a clip and to perform a trimoperation by dragging the edge of the clip to a desired trim point. 41.A computer program product, comprising: a computer readable mediumstoring computer program instructions for a computer program thatfacilitates editing of a motion picture using motion video data on acomputer, wherein the computer program, when executed by a computerprovides a graphical user interface, comprising: a viewer window on adisplay for the computer for viewing motion video data; a timelineregion on the display and nonoverlapping with the viewer window fordisplaying a timeline representing selections of the motion video datain a temporal order that specifies the motion picture; a firstselectable interface, activated by selection by a user of a recordgraphical element on the display, wherein saving of the motion pictureinto a selected one of a plurality of output formats is initiated; asecond selectable interface, activated by selection by a user of acapture graphical element on the display, wherein capture of motionvideo information into data files for use in editing the motion pictureis initiated; a third selectable interface, activated by selection by auser of an editing graphical element on the display, wherein the thirdselectable interface includes a plurality of selectable, mutuallyexclusive, editing interfaces on the display, wherein each of theselectable editing interfaces is selected by user selection of one of aset of graphical elements associated with the selectable editinginterfaces, wherein each of the selectable editing interfaces, whenselected, displays information in a region that is non-overlapping withthe viewer window and with the timeline region, wherein the displayedinformation is hidden by information displayed when another of theselectable interfaces is selected, and wherein each of the selectableediting interfaces permits a user to perform different editing functionswith respect to the motion picture being edited; wherein size andposition of the viewer window is substantially unchanged by selection ofone of the selectable interfaces; wherein size and position of thetimeline region is substantially unchanged by selection of one of theselectable interfaces; and wherein the capture graphical element, theediting graphical element and the record graphical element associatedwith the first, second and third selectable interfaces and the set ofgraphical elements associated with the selectable editing interfaces arepresented in an order in the display that directs the user throughcreation of the motion picture.
 42. The computer program product ofclaim 41, wherein the selectable editing interfaces includes aninterface for enabling a user to select a clip corresponding to motionvideo data stored on the computer for placement on the timeline.
 43. Thecomputer program product of claim 42, wherein the selectable editinginterfaces includes an effect interface for enabling a user to specifyan effect for placement on the timeline.
 44. The computer programproduct of claim 43, wherein the selectable editing interfaces includesa title interface for enabling a user to specify a title for placementon the timeline.
 45. The computer program product of claim 44, whereinthe selectable editing interfaces includes an audio interface forenabling a user to specify audio operations on audio data on thetimeline.
 46. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein theselectable editing interfaces includes an effect interface for enablinga user to specify an effect for placement on the timeline.
 47. Thecomputer program product of claim 46, wherein the selectable editinginterfaces includes a title interface for enabling a user to specify atitle for placement on the timeline.
 48. The computer program product ofclaim 47, wherein the selectable editing interfaces includes an audiointerface for enabling a user to specify audio operations on audio dataon the timeline.
 49. The computer program product of claim 41, whereinthe selectable editing interfaces includes a title interface forenabling a user to specify a title for placement on the timeline. 50.The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the selectable editinginterfaces includes an audio interface for enabling a user to specifyaudio operations on audio data on the timeline.
 51. The computer programproduct of claim 41, wherein the selectable editing interfaces includesan audio interface for enabling a user to specify audio operations onaudio data on the timeline.